


Leading To You

by tsukaeya



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Crime, Detective, Detective!AU, Fluff, Haikyuu - Freeform, M/M, daisuga - Freeform, forensic science, tsukaeya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25946263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukaeya/pseuds/tsukaeya
Summary: Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi have just been handed the toughest assignment of their careers as detectives.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Leading To You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work on AO3 and for the Haikyuu fandom so there may be errors and plot holes, I immediately apologize for those. This is a work of fiction and if there any details (names, organizations, events, etc.) that have happened in real life those are plainly coincidental as this work is completely from my imagination.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy reading!! <3

“Deputies Sawamura and Sugawara, I hand over to the both of you—a case that has had an investigation of over five years.”

Their senior then places a thick folder of papers containing evidence and information that has been collected over the past five years of investigation. Both Daichi and Suga were only considered to be rookie detectives, but their skill and intelligence have allowed them to climb the ranks quickly in the past months.

And today, the two have been entrusted with a case that won’t go cold even if the Miyagi Police Department wanted it to.

The Case of the Fumetsu Killer.

“Hundreds of other people, and even some of the greatest detectives have worked hard during the past years to try to crack this case. It won’t just go cold, the killer is still on the loose and he will kill anyone who gets in the way of his plans,” instructs their senior as Sugawara begins to scan the papers. “We’ll be the ones to finally solve this case, we claim it. Right, Suga?,” Daichi says with full confidence then looks at Sugawara. 

“Yes, me and Daichi will surely be the first ones to finally succeed in catching him.” 

As Daichi and Suga went through the papers, a few details had caught Daichi’s attention. The things this killer left at the crime scene were quite peculiar and even if he’d look at it from the perspective of the killer himself, he didn’t understand why he would leave these objects.

__

Latent finger prints, however only tips of the finger prints are visible.

__

It brought Daichi back to the days where he handled his first case. His reasoning was quite odd, everyone questioned why the rookie Sawamura Daichi continued to beg to use an Alternate Light Source on certain places the suspect would unlikely touch. But as the fluorescent dye stain and orange alternate light source where in action, his seniors were left in shock. Sawamura had found multiple latent fingerprints of the suspect.

As Daichi took a sip of coffee from his paper cup, he examined the case papers. “What he leaves are quite odd items, aren’t they?,” asks Suga from the desk next to him. The undoubtedly were odd. They were odd, but they were fascinating to say the least. This killer had left traces of evidence that could have strains of his DNA—but to every forensic specialist’s surprise, the only DNA they can ever acquire is from the item itself. Every person that handles this case can’t get around this one specific item.

__

Empty energy drink bottles.

__

Sugawara wondered why there had been no strands of human DNA attained from the bottle. As they are empty, it’s assumed that the killer has drank from them. Even if the killer didn’t drink from them, the victims probably would have—but there hasn’t been a single trace of human DNA on the bottle. DNA often found on the bottle is from 70% isopropyl alcohol and at times, bleach.

With this, it can be assumed that the Fumetsu Killer, if indeed responsible for these crimes—takes pride in sanitation. “What a clean freak,” Sugawara chuckles under his breath as he scans the words on the papers regarding the case. It is believed that the cleaning techniques the suspect uses is similar to the ones applied in hospital wards. The two of them then began to read through the files yet again, focusing on the task at hand rather than joking about the killer’s germaphobic tendencies.

__

Towel with blood stains.

__

This would be a blessing in disguise to any investigator, a hotspot for DNA. But apparently no one has ever recovered another strand of human DNA apart from the DNA of the victim. There have also been traces of the same alcohol and bleach from the empty energy drink bottles. Having read this, it took Daichi back to the forst case he and Suga worked on together. 

It wasn’t a case as big as this, but it was somewhat of a local mystery. A fifteen-year-old had disappeared out of the blue, and the both of them opted to collect a DNA sample from the girl’s toothbrush and use the sweat that soaked into a handkerchief found nearby the place that the girl had previously disappeared. When the DNA did match, Daichi could never forget the smile on Sugawara’s face knowing they had brought a girl back to her family. His smile was truly exquisite. 

Daichi once more remembering Sugawara’s smile that day somewhat made him want to focus more on the case. He wanted to see his precious smile once more. As if Sugawara never smiled when he was around Daichi, the gray haired male actually thought he smiled too much around Daichi. But he couldn’t help it. The next piece of evidence was quite unnerving and yet again, intriguing.

__

Gloves said to be used by the killer himself.

__

They were a pair of plastic gloves, similar to the ones an individual would use in culinary or when they’d handle food. Those kinds of glove make hands precipitate in one way or another. But yet again, what concerns everyone is the fact these gloves remain stained with the victim’s blood on the outer sides, yet there isn’t a trace of human DNA in the inside.

It was still the same things found in the other two pieces of DNA, alcohol and bleach. Sugawara had a hunch that whoever the killer was, he most likely used to work at a hospital or had a medical background of some sort. Probably a medical technician or a nurse. If the killer was a surgeon, he would more likely use his own operating skills to leave the victims in a grotesque yet organized state. The cuts on the victims were messy cuts that even five year olds would make.

Considering that only the inside as free of human DNA and that the bleach didn’t completely destroy the thin layer of plastic, the suspect knew how to get their way around disinfectants. There was just an adequate amount of bleach added to cover up his tracks and to not destroy the gloves. It appeared as if this killer did want to be found. 

__

Orange colored paper with faded messages said to be from the victims.

__

And in each and every crime scene, without fail there will always be a folded piece of orange colored paper. There even have been ongoing joke amongst investigators. “Where will the next orange paper be?”

The message on the papers are said to be written by the victims as their final words, and are soaked into water, alcohol, bleach and even at times—their own blood. This fades away the messages and the pieces of paper are often left scattered around the crime scene and as you expect, barely have traces of human DNA not from the victims. The creepier thing? His signature is the only thing that hasn’t faded away from the orange paper.

His victim list is even scarier. He has no preference. Once he decides to kill you—he will. There are 10 known victims of the Fumetsu Killer, and there are around 20 other individuals said to be killed by the same man. Those however, can never be proven as there is so little known about the suspect—the police department themselves only know his alias, his height and the hunger for killing this man has. He is dubbed the Fumetsu or Immortal Killer because of this.

His first known victim is a high profile doctor at the Miyagi Hospital who he murdered in 2015. Yukawa-Orime Uchuu was the head of the Neurology Department at the mentioned hospital. He was found dead in his own office, a few letters can be identified from his note despite the red blood soaking it. The characters S, M, Z and N were the four that could be identified.

Two weeks later, his second victim—Nara Enomoto was identified. He was a street vendor and according to his family, they last saw him a week before he was reported missing when he left Miyagi to buy products in Sendai. A month prior to the report of his disappearance, they found most of his clothes and the pieces of evidence in an empty alleyway. What made the case eerier however was the fact the body was never found.

Erisa Daizen was the third victim. Her death was in May 2016—just nine months after the Nara’s. She was a high school student and she came home after she went out to buy comic books. It is said that she was kidnapped by the killer and killed her. Her body was found two days after her disappearance in her own home’s backyard. Her orange note was hidden in her back pocket along with the comic book she purchased, both soaked in her own blood.

Police were able to find where the site of her murder was. She was murdered in an abandoned house a couple blocks away from the comic book store. This home was where the most evidence was taken. Aside from the regular five pieces of evidence, it appears that it was also the quarters of the killer for a couple of weeks before he fled after her murder. However, despite that—there was no other DNA other than Erisa’s that was recovered.

His most notable crime however, was when he killed five individuals in June 2017. Tsukino Oniji—27, male, an employee at a convenience store, Gempachi Isao—5, female, a kindergarten student, Vidorru Ejiri—63, female, retired teacher, Daidekou Atsumichi— 16, male, a high school student and Iwasaki Chino—39, male, teacher at the same school Daidekou attended.

They were all gruesome in different ways but all five victims were killed by multiple stab wounds in the victims’ cubital fossa, which further raises the suspicion that the Fumetsu killer has medical background. Besides the stab wounds in that area, there are also incisions in the lower back, areas in between the collarbone and abdomen and cuts along the ankles. 

Other than these, there are also bullets lodged into the victims in the chest. Most notably, there are bullets suspected to be from a Sugiura pistol which are rare to come across as the remaining ones are in the hands of museums or private collectors. 

Horuichi Isedai was the only known victim in 2018. He was found inside a box, neatly packed and it appeared as if he was to be shipped. Similar to the previous cases, there were stab wounds by his abdomen, his cubital fossa and there barely was evidence of human DNA that wasn’t Hourichi’s. However, this case was revolutionary as the latent finger print recovered from the box was much larger than just the usual fingerprints. They were large enough that they almost covered the area nearing the center of the print.

After two years of a hiatus, the case was going cold and the Miyagi Police Department was ready to close it. That is until recently, where Umemurao Popori was murdered and left in a dumpster with an orange note sloppily signed by the killer. The case has been reopened, and after five years—over 15 detectives have tried to crack it, the case has now landed in Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi’s hands.

__

He is cunning. He is smart. He knows how to get around his crimes. He is the Fumetsu Killer and Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi will find him. 

__

“Suga, aren’t you tired?,” asks Daichi as Sugawara finished his fifth cup of coffee. “When have I ever been at a loss for energy when it came to this case?,” Sugawara replies and slightly chuckles at Daichi as he looks back at the papers. It’s been a week since they were handed over the case, and they still did not have any leads.

“He’s more likely a nurse—no medical technicians would know where the head of the Neurology Department’s office would be. If my suspicions are correct, he’d even more likely be in another building. Adding to that, there are no employees with those letters in their names,” Sugawara explains as he scrunches his face and bite on the cracker he was holding. He looked extremely puzzled. Then he smiled.

Daichi knew smiling right now as his partner was stressed would be weird, but Sugawara’s smile was contagious. It made him happy in a way Sugawara would never know.

“If he was a nurse, he’d probably know that information however. And there was an employee around 2007 to 2015 who had those letters in his name. But he resigned in early January, and was in Italy when the murder took place. Other than him—we have no leads,” Sugawara says with his face yet again scrunched up. The case was puzzling—yet it was fascinating. 

The two then spent the next weeks investigating. Visiting crime scenes, doing everything to try to recover even the smallest strand of DNA, interrogating people, and trying to decipher the faded words of the notes. Their dedication to the case was quite unusual. It’s as if the universe had worked so hard just for these two to be able to be together to work on this case.

Daichi always felt uneasy with the case, and he knew Sugawara probably was too. They were at crime scenes that laid untouched for years, smelling the dust and dried up blood. But having each other, somewhat made the both of them feel some kind of ease. It felt like having a sudden oasis he never knew he needed amidst the treacherous desert they were in. The two of them felt like having the other was enough to keep them sane.

Until one faithful day—investing the crime scene of Umemurao, they trampled over a groundbreaking discovery. A stray hair located inside the bottle. It was on the brink of not having traces of human DNA as it had been floating in a mix of energy drink, alcohol and bleach. However, by some miracle—they had found a strand.

As Daichi handed Suga the results of the analysis, there hadn’t been a single match from the suspects. “Suga, let’s take a break tonight,” says Daichi as he puts on his coat and turns to look at Sugawara. “No, I mean the evidence is off—if that hair strand isn’t Umemurao’s or any of our suspects, it could be someone else’s or from an accomplice,” the gray haired male says furrowing his eyebrows.

He had quite an expression on his face, it brought Daichi back to the days were Sugawara couldn’t answer their worksheets in school. Who knew that 15 years later, he’d make the same face but as he was solving a case. And in those 15 years, even in the midst of fear, of danger, and of near death experiences, he never felt safer just with Sugawara’s presence.

Sawamura Daichi knows, if he was given the choice to turn away from this life of risks, he’d choose it over and over again.

__

Especially if it meant being with Sugawara Koushi.

__

It had been 16 years since he met Sugawara, they were both in junior high. They were schoolmates, they were never in the same class. But seeing each other in the hallways gave them some sort of ease. The first time they talked was during a game. It was an escape room and somehow, as if fate had intervened, they were the first ones to get that far ahead in the room.

“Hey,” Sugawara spoke to Daichi as he saw him from the other side of the room. “Sugawara Koushi? Class 1-4?,” Daichi asks and Sugawara smiled at him. It was the first time Daichi ever saw that smile, and it felt—new. It felt like the one thing Daichi would never get tired of waking up to every day. “I’m Sawamura Daichi, do you want to be my partner?”

“I would love to be your partner, Sawamura-san. Anytime.”

Fast forward, 16 years later, Koushi’s words stuck like a promise. He still was Daichi’s partner. And he never planned to leave Daichi’s side.

The same fall when they were in junior high, they began to talk more. Daichi, who was independent was now slowly learning to understand feelings. Sugawara who was shy began to lower his walls down. And they grew together. No one ever knew them without talking about the other. They had a special connection that everyone noticed but no one else could have.

Fate took its time to build the two of them, and make them grow together, allowing them to slowly fall in love with each other’s flaws, quirks, perfections and soul.

Perhaps, maybe one or even none of them have noticed but they were the most beautiful painting in a gallery of wonders. And perhaps, in their own perspectives, the other was the most exquisite work of art.

Daichi then stared at Sugawara, and realized—he really was in love with him. All those years of trust, it led them to this very moment. He wouldn’t choose any other life. He would choose to stay with Sugawara over and over again and fulfill his promise. He then took an extra coat off the hanger and placed it on Sugawara. “Hey, I know the case is important—but you’re more important than a man who’s got so much blood on his hands.”

For a moment, Sugawara felt his cheeks burn. He blushed at that thought and immediately dismissed the thought, yearning to focus on the papers. He wanted to focus on them rather than focus on Daichi. They were dealing with stormy waters now—there was no greater danger than the moment they were in. And he thought spending less time with Daichi meant less pain.

__

He can’t truly resist Daichi though, can he?

__

Sugawara smiles at Daichi who was slowly grinning at him. The dark haired male finally had smiled—he rarely smiled ever since they were given the case and Suga yearned to see that smile for so long. It felt refreshing. It made him feel that even if they were to lose another in this time around, the memories of this moment, the moments before and the moments he truly cherished above anything wouldn’t disappear—would they?

As he placed the papers down, he slipped on the coat and was about to grab another stack. Then Daichi’s words echoed in his mind. “The case is important—but you’re more important than a man who’s got so much blood on his hands.”

It was the first time someone had really made him feel a different kind of important. He was important to his parents as he was their so called “pride”, he was important to his classmates as they would bully him for answers and use him as their punching bag and he was important to so many other people because he was their key to achieving their personal goals. He never knew what importance truly meant.

__

He was important to them because they could use him.

__

But it was different with him. Daichi didn’t need him to achieve anything. That day in the escape room, Daichi could’ve proceeded with ease and leave Sugawara behind. But he didn’t. Sugawara Koushi was important to Sawamura Daichi because in his eyes, Koushi was valuable. Koushi was everything Daichi ever wanted. With Daichi, Sugawara knew what importance felt like. He knew what it truly felt like.

__

He was important to Sawamura Daichi—because Daichi truly thought he needed Sugawara in his life for no absolute hidden agenda, he just wanted to be with Sugawara.

__

Sugawara smiled to himself and then at Daichi. Daichi felt heat in his cheeks. “Let’s sleep,” Suga said and placed a throw pillow on his desk. “You’re not sleeping there Suga,” Daichi retorted and pointed out the fact they had a couch in the office. “Then where will you sleep? We can’t fit on the couch, can we?”

Daichi sighed—if there was one thing Sugawara had that he didn’t it would be how he always had the courage to speak up. If that was Daichi, he thought he would probably offer the couch to Suga or just say no but with Suga it was different. And that was part of the many reasons he was in love with him. And Daichi was soon caught off guard when Sugawara walked away from the table.

He then took of his coat and placed it on the floor. “We could sleep here and build a fort though,” he shyly said. Has Daichi ever mentioned he loved the creativity of this man? “You shouldn’t have used could—we definitely will,” Daichi replied and with that, Sugawara’s face lit up. Daichi felt at ease. He never knew a feeling like this whenever he wasn’t with Sugawara. The boy right there introduced him to what butterflies felt like.

And as they finished the budget fort out of coats, throw pillows and seat cushions, they both fell into it. Sugawara inhaled the office air and smiled. “Daichi, we’ll be partners till the end, right?” he asks and stares into the ebony tinted eyes across him. “Of course. To the end, and beyond that.”

__

To the end, and beyond that.

__

The four in the morning alarm rang and Sawamura’s eyes slowly opened. Suga was cuddled against him, sleeping peacefully and their hands were tangled with each other. This was the one thing Daichi looked forward to having after this case—it was having to see this sight every day. “Maybe a little longer, I want to spend more time with you,” he says as he embraces Sugawara closer. A little more time was all they wanted.

The door slammed open to reveal their forensic specialist. “What the—,” she says as she looks at the both of them cuddled on the floor at the back of the office. “What time is it?,” Sugawara says sleepily and checks his phone. It was 10 in the morning. He then slaps Daichi awake as their forensic specialist watches, laughing her lungs out.

“We’ve found a match. Remember Shimoda Zeshin?,” she says placing the results on the table as Sugawara tries to flatten down his bed hair. “He’s a match,” Daichi says and his eyes lit up. It seemed like he had heard that name before, but he wasn’t quite sure where. It seemed to be from some point in the past, but he couldn’t remember when.

“He’s the resigned nurse right? But he was in Italy during the first confirmed killing, maybe he’s an accomplice?,” Daichi questions, trying too hard to connect the dots. “Or was he?,” Sugawara contradicts. “Nara Enomoto’s corpse was never found was it? Based on the sketches—the two do have lot of similarities. The only thing that wouldn’t make them twins is that Nara’s lip is way thicker than Shimoda’s lips will ever be. I could be drastically wrong but I’m not grasping straws by saying he’s an accomplice. If Shimoda really who we believe he is—then he is a great deceiver.”

Daichi and the forensic specialist stared in awe. “He could have easily even trimmed a bit of Nara’s lip down and made him look like him. He could’ve easily made it appear as if he was in Italy by paying Nara to act like him—to eradicate all suspicion that he could’ve been a suspect to Dr. Yukawa-Orime’s murder. If Nara disappeared a month before—it would be enough time for him to fake his own departure and go on a killing spree.”

“And isn’t it weird how the only crime scene with excess amounts of bleach is the one where Nara’s clothes were recovered? The stray hair found there was sadly from a cat—but it was Shimoda’s saving grace because he would’ve been caught years ago if that was his.”

“Knowing this, if there were more victims of his whose bodies were never found—there would be at least two people assuming Shimoda’s identity in the world right now as we speak,” Sugawara says with assurance in his eyes. He was a genius. And that probably was why he was one of the greatest detectives of their time. He had adapted to the psychology of many killers—understanding them at a humane level just to be able to close the case and bring justice to their victims’ deaths.

Perhaps that was his flaw, he related too much with others and looked out for their actions too much he forgot to make time to understand himself. But in the world Sugawara Koushi was in—perhaps there was too little time. Too little time to dwell on the things that they’d have plenty more time to regret in the future. It wasn’t important to Suga what happened to his sanity after all this diving into criminal psychology, he had time to regain it whenever he was with Daichi.

As the three were talking about the case, another officer entered the room. He didn’t look like he was just stopping by for updates or to hand in results and it didn’t even appear as if he was going to borrow a stapler—his face had a scary look. The moment he walked into the room, his face was the opposite of what they had expected it to be. Complete fear was written all over his face.

“The suspect has asked to meet with just the two of you.”

He then hands over a paper with cutouts. The method Shimoda had now used and the Fumetsu Killer often used was the ransom note effect wherein letters from newspaper or magazine headings would be cut out and pasted on paper to avoid having their handwriting recognized. Written in various cutouts were the words, “tonight, seven, nara enomoto alley. you know the clues in the papers.”

“What clues?,” Daichi asked. He then scanned over the case papers, and was even going to request an ALS scanning to make sure that there weren’t any other fingerprints besides his and Sugawara’s. “Daichi, if the killer was in the Miyagi Police—he would’ve handled the case himself or tampered with the records so he wouldn’t be caught, so it’s quite unlikely. Don’t you think?”

Sugawara said that with such a calm expression, it terrified and lifted Daichi up at the same time. “We’re heading down there aren’t we?,” Daichi asks and Sugawara nods. He tried his best to completely conceal it but there was fear in his heart. Fear that maybe this was a trap. Two rookie detectives, in an alleyway with no way to escape with a killer. How disastrous would that turn out?

“Hey, I know you’re scared but—we’ll be there together. Nothing bad will happen. We’ll make it out together,” Daichi said reassuring Sugawara. And that was his flaw—he knew the right words to reassure everybody else but he could never tame the guilt, the anger, the curiosity and the fear that brooded in his heart. He too was scared, but knowing Suga was there—he knew they’d make it out alive together. He knew they’d be partners till the very end.

And as nightfall came, the two had been ready. Back up would be on standby in places near the area, they had been equipped with guns for self-defense and all the years of their work would have a cherry on top as tonight would probably be the night to go down in history books. Perhaps, tonight was the night they would catch the infamous Fumetsu Killer. 

The view had changed quickly. The previous night they had fallen asleep in their fort of coats and throw pillows—and not even 24 hours later, they were on their way to put their lives on the line for justice. They weren’t as scared, knowing civilians were told not to be in the area, there was back up and most importantly, they had each other. It was just another one of their investigations—right?

And as they were dropped off in the alleyway—Sugawara couldn’t help but think of the things he saw in the records. They were probably the clues the killer meant, but they didn’t have enough time to dwell on that, did they? They walked into the alleyway—and he stood there alone. 

“I’ve been waiting, Sawamura. Sugawara.”

Sugawara wanted to reach out for Daichi’s hand the way he did in the escape room when he didn’t want to get lost—but he couldn’t. “Make it quick,” Daichi says with courage in his voice. He wasn’t nervous at all. He wanted to end this confrontation immediately. In a swift motion, Sugawara turned on the voice recorder he had snuck into his jean’s pocket.

“I, Shimoda Zeshin—am the Fumetsu Killer,” Shimoda says rolling up his sleeves and smirking. “I sent Nara to Italy to pretend to be me in exchange of having his life spared and having his family safe,” he said with confidence. There was something fishy and in that moment, for a split second Sugawara wanted to retreat but they were already there, weren’t they? He couldn’t waste all this.

The killer laughed sadistically and looked at them. “I’ll turn myself in, on one condition,” he says and momentarily Daichi’s heart felt hope. It felt hope that after this—maybe it would all be over. Maybe after this, he could go back to building forts and waking up next to the man he loved. Maybe it was the night it’d all be over. Years of work that built up momentum for this moment would finally be over.

“I’ll take one of you two, and kill them.”

Sugawara immediately volunteered, knowing Daichi was more valuable than him. He couldn’t bare to live a life without Daichi, but maybe Daichi could live without him. The brown haired male watched in horror as Sugawara stepped up front and offered up his life. And before he stepped in front of the smirking killer, he turned to look at Daichi for one last time.

“At least we were partners till the end.”

Sugawara smiled at him through the tears in his eyes for one last time and walked up to Shimoda. And as he pulled the trigger, there was three seconds before the bullet would reach Sugawara. And in those three seconds, they both knew that if they weren’t meant to have the happy ending they wanted in this life—they would have to find each other in multiple lifetimes and universes.

__

Two.

__

The gunshot rang and for sure, the back-up heard it and they were on their way to get the two of them out of situation. And all Daichi could do was watch as Sugawara was about to die just for this investigation. The gray haired male’s voice then rung through his ears. “Daichi, we’ll be partners till the end, right?”

“Of course. To the end, and beyond that.”

__

One.

__

Just before the bullet would hit Sugawara, Daichi sprung up and pushed him away—receiving the bullet in the process. “Daichi!,” Sugawara yelled to see his ebony tinted eyes half open as his hands clutched the wound in his chest. Back up quickly poured in the alleyway just after he was shot and they quickly cuffed the killer who laughed maniacally at the weeping Sugawara.

“Daichi,” was all he could say as he watched the life drain out of him. “I can’t lose you like this, Dai,” he says as the blood soaks his jeans and as his tears fall onto Daichi’s face. “I’m not going to make it,” the brown haired male says smiling at Sugawara for one last time. “At least we were partners till the end, right?”

Sugawara couldn’t help but smile at the irony of his words. “I love your smile, smile for me even when I’m gone, okay?,” Daichi says clutching Suga’s face as both the blood from the wound and tears from his eyes poured out. “At least I was able to keep our promise, I love you Sugawara Koushi.”

And with that, the brown haired male closed his eyes. Sugawara felt his pulse, and it was gone. He wasn’t breathing, He wasn;t responding—it was too late. Sawamura Daichi’s heart stopped beating at 7:12 in the evening on December 1st. 

“I love you too, Sawamura Daichi.”

With all his strength, Suga carried Daichi to the end of the alleyway and their colleagues watched in horror as he dropped to the floor crying. “Sugawara, get in the vehicle where Shimoda is, we’ll take care of Sawamura for you,” they said as he was escorted into the vehicle. He was broken. Broken beyond repair. Daichi didn’t even get to hear how Sugawara too loved him back. It was too late.

All they needed was a little time. More time.

“I know about the promise,” Shimoda’s voice suddenly booms from the vehicle. “I was the nurse that was on duty the day you almost died. You probably won’t remember it—but you were in a critical condition and your family wanted you to be with Sawamura if you ended up losing your life that day. So as you lay there, the moment Sawamura touched your hand—you woke up. But after being asleep for two weeks, you didn’t regain consciousness just yet. But he took that opportunity to say all the things he wanted to say, yet all that went right over your head.”

“That promise 12 years ago? He promised to always protect you.”

“And I take it that he didn’t break the promise at all?,” he smirked as Sugawara listened in awe. “So you agreed to kill me—knowing Sawamura would stand in for me?,” he questions and once more Shimoda’s maniacal laugh echoed inside the car. “That was always the plan, Sugawara. You two awakened my sadistic thoughts of murder. So I went to kill individuals in the hope of having you two be in a situation like this.”

“You’re sick in the head,” Sugawara says to the man that committed genocide just to prove a point. “I know I am, but so are you,” he said. “You noticed those hints right? How the word ‘LET GO’ was spelled out inside the clues I left. The first letter of every item I left was purposely there just to tell you—I will be taking Sawamura away from you.”

“And the names, you noticed that the first letter of every name spelled out ‘YOU MUST GIVE DAICHI UP’ didn’t you? And that’s why you volunteered to get your head blown up without hesitation? You’re smarter than I thought you were,” he says as Sugawara realizes that’s exactly how the events played out in his head. “I killed specific individuals just to tear you two apart with a promise that was supposed to keep you together.”

As they arrived at the police station, Shimoda had an even worse plan than everyone thought. Instead of admitting everything—he put all the blame on Sugawara. His blood was boiling, he was filled with rage. How much worse could this man get? “Shimoda, tell me. Have you ever felt love? Have you ever felt being valuable to someone because they truly cherished you?,” Sugawara said with his back turned on him.

“I believe you haven’t. Sure, arrest me if I truly am the perpetrator. But do you really think—would I kill the man I love?”

“Do you really believe I would be the accomplice of this demon? Never in a million lifetimes would I do such,” he said. He had seen Daichi die in front of him and he was getting framed for something he would never do. He felt numb. He didn’t have Daichi by his side to tell him it was going to be fine. For the first time in 16 years—Sugawara Koushi felt alone.

“And if you don’t believe me, here,” he says handing over the recorder that still was on. “Give it back to me. Daichi’s last words are there,” he says trying to smile upon remembering his final request. As they listened to the tape, all Shimoda’s heinous acts were uncovered and for the first time in months, Sugawara felt empty. Despite all the investigations, the fatigue and all the trauma—he never felt empty for Daichi was there.

But now he wasn’t.

He headed up to their office for one last time and his eyes landed on the fort they had built just 24 hours ago. The moonlight illuminated the office and Sugawara fell to the floor crying once more. It felt numb, it felt empty, it felt like fear and it felt like a void inside him. Yet, he chose to smile. He smiled the moment he remembered that Daichi finally got to rest after this hell they’ve been through.

In the end—and hopefully beyond that, they were partners. 

Before the gunshot rang and before you closed your eyes, I wished that I could’ve gave you back all the love you gave to me, and to what we were supposed to be. 

May our love meet again in another world, Sawamura Daichi.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, again. I hope you enjoyed reading "Leading To You" despite it's ending. I may post more works for Haikyuu and Shingeki No Kyojin so please look out for that. The ending doesn't really hurt as much, does it? I'm not really sure, it's subjective but anyways thank you once more for reading!
> 
> Deputies Sugawara Koushi and Sawamura Daichi are now signing off!


End file.
